The Denver Post awarded its 2008 Ovation Award for 'Best Year by an Actor' to Mark Rubald, who played Sargeant Toomey in the FAC Theatre Company's production of Biloxi Blues this season. Rubald also played Mr. Potter in the Arvada Center's A Wonderful Life, among other fine performances. FAC Scenic Designer Christopher L. Sheley was nominated for his work on last season's Sunday in the Park with George.

Up next for the FAC Theatre Company, The Full Monty, which opens Jan. 23.

At the Dec. 18 Annual Member Meeting, Sue Tyson, Chair of the FAC Advisory Council, announced that Margot Lane was the recipient of the 2008 Living Treasure award for her outstanding contribution to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Incidently, Sue Tyson was the 2007 recipient.

Dec 22, 2008

In Friday’s Denver Post, Kyle MacMillan wrote a full-page review with five photos about a new exhibit at the Kirkland Museum. In the lead – the opening paragraph – Kyle makes this comment about the Kirkland: “… the museum has joined the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center as one of the two key institutions researching, preserving and promoting the state's visual heritage.”

An exhibition for the FAC Permanent Collection – Sacred Spaces – was featured on the cover of Friday’s Go!, the Gazette’s weekly A&E section ... “Las Vegas, New Mexico,” Alex Harris (right). This marks the first time a work of art from the permanent collection has ever been on the cover of the Go! T.D. Mobley-Martinez writes, “At a time of year when religious imagery is as common as our drive to gift, gift, gift, Sacred Spaces looks at faith in a very different context. The exhibition … speaks to the delicate thread that connects us all: our humanity.”

“A few weeks ago, I went to see the Walt Kuhn/Edie Winograde shows there ("Myth America," November 26) with the thought that I would also write a brief notice on the other exhibition, Designing Women: Art and the Modern Interior From Postwar Britain. But the minute I entered the gallery, I knew I'd have to scuttle my plans and devote a full-blown review to Women — not just because it's surprisingly large, but because the quality of what's included might make you think that you've been transported to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York or, maybe more to the point, the Victoria and Albert Memorial in London.

“I can't say enough about how interesting, thoughtful, intelligently laid out and beautiful Designing Women is. I wasn't surprised to learn that curators from various museums in Britain as well as from the Cooper-Hewitt, the Wolfsonian and even the Museum of Modern Art have made their way to Colorado Springs to see it. Suffice it to say, it wouldn't kill you to exert a fraction of that effort to do the same.”

Congratulations to the curator Tariana Navas-Nieves, exhibit designer Laurel Swab and the curatorial team for another great exhibition and positive review.

"It is required of every man, that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and, if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death." -- Ghost of Christmas Future

Walk among your fellow art lovers at the FAC … for free ... or wait and walk the galleries after you die. It's your call.

Dec 11, 2008

The photo director for National Geographic, David Griffin knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories from the inspiring website, ted.com.

Nick Madson, who played Lumiere in the Fine Arts Center's production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast last season, is performing his stand-up routine in Denver at Metropolis this Sunday. Tickets for "Nick Madson: One Fierce Box of Wine" are available for the 9 p.m. show by calling 325.6486. The Independent ran a feature on Nick in their Dec. 11 issue.

Dec 8, 2008

The First Friday Art Walk crowd mingled without incident with the FAC exhibition opening patrons in downtown Colorado Springs this past Friday at the Dream City 2020: Through the Eyes of the Artist Past, Present and Future opening celebration at the FAC MODERN. An estimated 281 were in attendance. Here you see Warren Epstein from the Gazette posing with Bettina Swigger of COPPeR and the FAC's Sam Gappmayer next to a stylish sign.

The Gazette interviewed director Alan Osburn for a piece entitled, "Christmas Carol stars will take flight at arts center," because in this year's FAC Theatre Company production you will see actors flying, but the show isn't just about special effects "You know, it's not about shopping. It's not about malls," says Osburn of the tale, which Dickens called "a whimsical sort of masque intended to awaken loving and forbearing thoughts. Dickens felt that Christmas was a time of rebirth," he says, "a time to gather together and figure out we did wrong and do it over. I think that's why (audiences) keep coming back. I think it's the rebirth factor." Tickets are available for this weekend.

Artist Marica Hefti said, "I think a very large one, not just because I'm an optimist. But since I came to Colorado Springs in 1991, there was literally one commercial art gallery. Can you imagine that? But then they came, all kinds of galleries came and went. ... Once - I used to say ‘if,' but now I say ‘once' - once you have a whole country buying original arts, there will not be enough artists in the world to satisfy it all. And why not start in the Springs?"

Dec 1, 2008

Michael Paglia of Westword reviewed the Edie and Walt exhibitions last Wednesday, concluding "(Blake) Milteer's pairing of these two bodies of work is brilliant and reveals a young curator who is among the top art-world talents on the Front Range and one of only a handful in the region capable of putting on a great show — or, in this case, two of them.